


please don't ever become a stranger (whose laugh i could recognize anywhere)

by lazyfish



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Background Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse - Freeform, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 15:43:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15367881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyfish/pseuds/lazyfish
Summary: Mack is sitting in a diner, and he hears a familiar laugh.





	please don't ever become a stranger (whose laugh i could recognize anywhere)

It happens when they’re at a small diner in a Maryland suburb.

The team has just finished a mission that took them slaloming through D.C. and the surrounding area - hence why they’re in Maryland now - and they’re all tired. Exhausted, really. Diners are not their favorite places after the mess with the time monolith, but where else are you going to get cheap, semi-decent food?

They’re gathered around a table in a far corner of the restaurant. The hostess had taken one look at the size of their group before sending them as far away from the rest of the patrons as possible.

But they’re not so far away from everyone else that they can’t hear the laughter.

It’s Bobbi’s laugh.

Mack is the first one to turn, ignoring the bowl of macaroni and cheese that’s just been set before him. It’s Bobbi’s laugh - of course he’s going to recognize it, of course he’s going to turn. Of course he’s going to stare, because he hasn’t seen his best friends in _years_ , and they’re there, just across the diner.

Just out of reach.

Elena’s the only other person to turn, following Mack’s gaze with her own. She doesn’t know the people in the booth, but she knows their faces. Mack has a photo of them on the dresser in their bedroom, a goofy selfie of him and Bobbi and Hunter in the back of the Quinjet. Elena doesn’t know it, but it’s the last photo they took together, the three of them, before things fell apart. She moves her hand to rest lightly on Mack’s arm, an attempt at comfort when she’s not entirely sure Mack wants to be comforted.

No one else moves, and for some reason, it kills Mack even more that no one else recognizes Bobbi’s laugh.

It _is_ Bobbi. For a while after Russia, Mack had seen ghosts of Bobbi and Hunter everywhere, so he had taken a moment to double-check, but this is not a ghost. This is Bobbi. It doesn’t take longer than three seconds for Mack to figure out why she’s laughing. She’s holding a French fry dipped in her chocolate milkshake, stabbing it towards Hunter’s face while he ducks and dodges it. It’s been a game of theirs for years, since before Mack even met them.

Hunter bites the fry and Bobbi laughs again. Still, no one looks. Even Elena’s gone back to her food.

“Mack.” Simmons taps his arm. “Deke asked you to pass the salt.”

“Oh,” he says, shifting so he’s no longer half-turned towards the booth where Bobbi and Hunter are sitting. “Yeah, sure. Here.” The salt shaker changes hands, and Mack picks up his fork, half-heartedly beginning to eat his meal. The pasta is chewy and it tastes like ash, but Mack thinks that’s more about the state of his mind than the state of his food.

He forces himself not to look back at Bobbi and Hunter again, counting bites of food. When he reaches ten, Mack allows himself a quick glance over his shoulder.

They’re gone.

He stands up abruptly. “Bathroom,” he mutters to no one in particular. He stands, weaves through the chairs and tables, and manages to lock himself in a bathroom stall before the first sob tears out of his chest.

Mack presses his fist against his mouth, trying to stifle the sounds - what if someone else comes in? - but he can’t manage to stop the tears.

In a better world, he would have been able to walk over to their table, to greet them enthusiastically, to hug Bobbi and slap Hunter on the back and joke that it had been far too long since they’d seen each other. Hell, in a better world, they wouldn’t even be at a separate table - they’d be sitting in the corner with the rest of the agents, bickering and stealing bites of food from each other’s plates. But this is not the world.

Most of the time, he can ignore the way missing them pulls at his heart, but the reminder was too much, especially when he wasn’t prepared for it.

It takes him five minutes to stop crying, and another minute more to stop his shoulders from shaking. No one else enters or exits the bathroom in that time, which is good. Mack doesn’t want to have to make excuses to his team, especially since most of them hadn’t even seen Bobbi and Hunter.

He splashes water on his face and returns to the table, where mostly everyone has finished eating. Mack’s going to get a to-go box, because his crying spell had erased what little appetite he had managed to keep after first seeing the disavowed agents.

He flags the waitress down for the check.

“Actually, hon, you’re already covered,” she tells him with a sunny smile. “Got told to give you this, though.” She hands him a napkin wrapped around something. The waitress shrugs, obviously not used to this sort of behavior but not paid enough to care. “Have a good day, kay?”

Mack nods numbly. He hadn’t thought that Bobbi and Hunter had seen them, but he realizes now that’s a silly assumption. They’re both trained in espionage, and the team is so large that they’re not exactly inconspicuous.

They troop out of the restaurant, and Mack tucks the napkin and whatever’s inside in his pocket. May looks at him strangely, and he just shrugs. Better to play dumb now, and tell her later, after he’s had time to process.

\---

Mack doesn’t get to look at the napkin until they’re back at the Lighthouse. Elena’s taking a shower in the bathroom, so he sits on the bed, alone.

He fishes it out of his pocket, smoothing it while simultaneously revealing what was wrapped inside. Mack smiles - it’s a strip of photos like you would get at a cheap photo booth, three shots of Bobbi and Hunter being absolutely ridiculous. They’re both smiling goofily in all three pictures, and Mack is warmed from his head to his toes. All he ever wanted for Bobbi and Hunter was for them to figure their shit out, and be happy, whatever that meant for the two of them. Them staying together was just a bonus.

After looking at the pictures for a long while, Mack turns his attention to the napkin. There’s a message written in Bobbi’s careful handwriting. _Miss you. Love you_. Then, in Hunter’s untidy scrawl - _Don’t die out there_. They signed with their initials - _B &L M-H_. He smiles again. The message isn’t much, but it’s enough.

Bobbi and Hunter are gone, but not forgotten - and they never will be, if he has anything to say about it.


End file.
